


Rust, Du[S]t, and Guts

by MeetTheTank



Series: Flesh and Me[T]al [2]
Category: NieR: Automata (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Blood, Blood and Gore, F/M, Gore, No Spoilers, What's restraint I've never heard of that, also face injuries as well, last time 2B did the dunking, shrug emoji, this time she gets dunked on super hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-05
Updated: 2017-08-12
Packaged: 2018-12-11 07:12:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11709450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeetTheTank/pseuds/MeetTheTank
Summary: By the time 9S heard the screaming, it was already too late. The exploding machine launches out of the sand, and detonates the moment it hits 2B in the stomach.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So....might have gotten a bit carried away.  
> Gonna throw in an extra warning here. It's pretty graphic. If you're squeamish of blood n guts (well they're android guts but like...still the imagery is there), there's plenty of both.
> 
> Also this isn't related to the first thing in the series besides thematically.

"Come on, can't we stop to rest for a minute?" 9S whines.

2B doesn't even slow as she climbs a particularly steep sand dune. "No."

He groans in response but keeps up several paces behind her. "Ugh, how can you even stand this heat! It's unbearable. I feel like I'm gonna melt!"

"Complaining about how hot the desert is isn't going to make the desert any less hot." She snaps.

"Well yeah but it still feels good to voice-"

"Emotions are prohibited."

While 2B slides down the dune, 9S takes a minute to both catch his breath and mock her. Complete with dumb hand gestures.

 _Emotions are prohibited! Yeah says the one who just ten minutes ago was on the verge of tears because their Operator found a picture of a cat_.  He doesn't dare say it out loud, not with her still in earshot. Knowing her she'd make him carry the materials they're supposed to deliver.

"9S." She calls from the bottom of the dune.

"Yeah yeah I'm coming."

They continue in relative silence for a while. Normally the desert is home to numerous hostile machines, but it's desolate this time. _Maybe machines need to take a break from the heat too._ 9S thinks to himself. He's thankful regardless of the reason. If they had to deal with machines in addition to digging around  for rare materials he might have snapped.

9S watches 2B when he's not scanning for hostile machines. The way she stomps through the sand. How heavily she breaths as they tackle another sand dune. She's getting tired too. Of course, she wouldn't admit it, but it's a small comfort to 9S that even the combat model is struggling along with him. 

He picks up his speed to a light jog to catch up with her. 

"Hey, wait a second." He puts his hand on 2B's shoulder, and is surprised when she actually stops.

"What is it." Her tone is as cold as ever but there's a hint of breathlessness that betrays her exhaustion.

9S holds out a metal bottle of water towards her, "It's easy to overheat out here. Even high end combat models like you need to watch how hard they push themselves out here."

There's a split second where he thinks that she's going to refuse. Of course he has a counter argument prepared in case, but she takes the bottle from him. 2B at first takes just a sip, but seems to realize how thirsty she is and proceeds to chug half of his water. Good thing he remembered to bring more than one. 

"....Thanks."

"You know you're half the reason I complain so much." He mentions. 2B shoots him a look and he fumbles with his bottle. "Er, what I mean is, I can see you're getting tired too. It's a roundabout way of trying to get you to take it easy sometimes. You're too hard on yourself, 2B."

She doesn't respond, and he doesn't expect her to. The moment he expresses concern for her is typically when the conversation ends. Though he does notice her gait slow to match his.  

Small victories.

Not much is said between them while they search the desert. 9S begins talking to himself about nothing in particular. Really he's just verbalizing his train of thought. He's certain 2B isn't listening to him, but occasionally he'll catch a glimpse of her looking away. It's odd to him, but she's done it for as long as he's known her. He assumes she's...just like that. He'll toy with the idea of starting a conversation every so often, even though he knows it'll end before it begins. He just wants to talk to someone other than himself, or his Pod. 

"Say, 2B-"

"Alert: Enemies approaching from multiple directions." Pod 042 interrupts.

The pair immediately draw their swords in preparation for an ambush but...

"...There's nothing here." 2B says warily.

9S scans the horizon for any sort of movement, but comes to the same conclusion as 2B. There's nothing but sand and dust.

"Alert: Enemies closing in." Pod 153 warns. "Proposal: Avoid being surrounded."

"From where?!" 9S shouts. 

They stand back to back, watching for any sort of movement in their vicinity. There's nothing, not even the wind blows across the dunes. The air is stagnant and it puts both androids on edge. 9S is the first to notice the subtle shift in the sands beneath his feet. His stomach flips as the realization hits him full force.

He's about to warn 2B when the screaming starts. An exploding machine bursts out of the sand in front of him. It shrieks and charges at him. There's barely any time to react beyond dodging backwards as far as he can, but it isn't enough. The machine leaps at him.

....

9S blinks.

He's lying on the sand. He can't hear anything. The only thing he can see is vague shapes and colors.

His face _hurts_.

Pod 153 displays visual diagnostics for him once they realized he couldn't hear them. 

_Alert: Aural sensors malfunctioning._

_Alert: Visual sensors resetting._

_Alert: Damage to facial region requires immediate attention. Proposal: Perform field aid as soon as possible._

9S tastes copper and grit in his mouth and tries to spit, but the mere action sends new waves of pain over his mouth and cheeks. His hands grip at his wounds and instead of flesh he feels the slick grooves of his teeth. 

The entirety of his upper lip is gone, along with a good portion of his lower lip. His left cheek is ruined, exposing more of his metal teeth. Bits of stray flesh dangle off of his face and sway in the light breeze. The putrid scent of his burnt flesh almost makes him vomit. He tries to move muscles that are no longer there, twisting what remains of his face into a grimace. He wants to scream but all the comes out is a pathetic wheeze. 

Blood, flesh, and sand all collide in his wounds. Everything that doesn't hurt, _itches_. There's a base urge to scratch at his face that he has to force himself to ignore. Between the grit, sunburn, and drying blood, the itching is almost as agonizing as the injuries themselves. 

Pod 153 hovers around other parts of his body, delicately picking out bits of shrapnel from his skin. The left shoulder in particular seems to have taken the brunt of blast. His velvet coat is burnt and torn, the sleeve barely hanging on to the rest. He tears off the useless bit of fabric and holds it against his shredded face. It stings and burns, but it helps soak up the blood that begins to run down his neck.

_Alert: Aural sensors resetting_

There's a sharp ringing in his ears as the sensors reset themselves. Thankfully it doesn't last long. He sits up, testing out his equilibrium as well. The world spins and twists in his vision, but he keeps himself upright. He listens to his own harsh breathing to center himself, and keeps his eyes on the sand.

"9S!"

He looks up a bit too fast and nearly topples over. The black and white shape he assumes is 2B sprints towards him. 

_Huh...she's never said my name like that before._

9S pulls himself to his feet and trudges through the sand to meet her. His legs are heavy, hell his whole body feels weighed down. Every part of him screams to rest, but he forces himself forward. 2B isn't far away now, he can even see her face. She looks...scared.

The sand shifts beneath his feet again. His stomach drops, and by the time he hears the screaming it's already too late. 

One of the exploding machines launches itself out of the ground just inches from 2B. She doesn't even have time to react. 

It detonates the moment it hits her stomach. 

9S shields what's left of his face from the blast. The horrific sound of screeching metal mixed with something that sounds wet makes his skin crawl and gut twist. When he gathers the strength to look up, all that remains of the ambush is scorched sand, puddles of oil and splashes of red.

_Oh no..._

"T-" Between his raw throat and missing lips, he can barely speak. 

He frantically scans the area for any sign of 2B. Off to the side, there's another trail of red. 

"Two-"

9S forces himself to stand and follow the red. He finds another one, larger and darker than the last.

"Two-..b"

The next trial he finds is more like a puddle. There's chunks of various sizes and shape. They're drenched in blood and impossible to identify. An awful sinking feeling emerges in his gut. He quickens his pace.

"2B..."

At the bottom of a dune, he saw her. 2B lies on her side in a disturbingly large puddle of blood. Her back is to him as he stumbles down. As he closes in, he sees-...

Oh no... oh no....

Oh _god!_...

The sight in front of him shocks him to the core. He can't even scream. He can't even _move_. He's frozen in place, staring at 2B's broken body. 

Her whole abdomen is blown open, oozing a viscous red gel. There's several thick tubes that lay outside of the wound and curl back inside of her, all slick with blood. Faint trails of steam rise from her open stomach and exposed innards. There isn't a spot on her body that isn't drenched in blood and fluids. At first 9S assumes the worst, how can he not? Then he sees her pathetically clawing at one of the tubes, and the shallow rise and fall of her chest. She's writhing in her own blood, clinging to life by a thread. The visceral snap back to reality almost overloads his processors.

 _"2B!!"_ 9S screams, further shredding his throat.  

He nearly falls as he rushes to her side, ignoring the searing pain in his own body. His Pod warns him about aggravating the injuries on his face, shoulder and other sustained injuries. This does little to stop him.

He's only a few feet away from her when he comes to a complete stop. His stomach is already churning from the sight alone, but what he didn't expect was the _smell_. It's an acrid, harsh smell that sears his nose and throat; but it's also sickeningly sweet in a way that rips into his gut. 9S falls to his knees and vomits the little food left in his stomach, along with other fluids and a bit of blood. The acids burn at the remains of his lips and mouth. He chokes out pained gasps and sobs between bouts of retching.

"Nine-.."

2B's voice is practically dripping with agony. She looks at him with the one eye that isn't caked shut by blood, but she can't seem to focus on anything. A violent cough followed by a spurt of blood from her mouth interrupts whatever it was she was about to say. 9S crawls over to her, tears stinging the open flesh on his face. 

With quaking hands he touches her face. "Stay-..me. Stay with me. I can-...I can help...fix."

"Alert: Unit 2B's vitals are dangerously low. Lethal damage sustained. Repairs not recommended at this stage." Pod 153 drones.

"No-...No please I can-...let me." He can't speak without choking on his own sobs. 

"...9S. Go...please." 2B whispers. 

"No...no. No! I can repair you! I can-" The smell overwhelms him again, he turns to the side to spit up nothing but stomach acids. It _fucking burns_.

"Don't-...just go.." 2B won't even look at him anymore. He's not sure she can.

"I won't...can't leave you like this.." 9S wipes what's left of his mouth with the back of his hand. He knows it's probably hopeless, that she can't be saved, but he has to try. He wouldn't be able to live with himself otherwise.

"Alert: Conducting repairs on Yorha unit 2B have unacceptable chances of failure. Attempting repairs will likely result in death." His Pod announces.

"Nin-...S..please."

"Stop! Don't talk like that 2B!" 

"Alert: Yorha unit 2B's black box temperature rising." 

"Please go...I'm not-"

"Just stop!"

"Proposal: Unit 9S should abandon unit 2B."

"Nines...I'm not-...I'm not worth it."

"DAMNIT JUST SHUT THE HELL UP!!"

9S immediately regrets shouting like that. He doubles over and dry heaves violently. There isn't even anymore acid for him to vomit up, he just convulses on the ground. Afterwards, his whole body trembles from exhaustion.

"I won't....leave you..." he breathes. 

2B just stares at him, to exhausted to argue with him further. She looks so defeated, as if she wanted to die and 9S had ripped that away from her. 

"....Fine." She manages to say.

9S rolls her over onto her back to properly asses her wounds, apologizing when she lets out a choked cry. It begins to dawn on him that he does not have the materials or tools to even remotely fix this. Panic sets in, twisting his ruined stomach into knots.

 _Calm down. Just...calm down and think._

The first thing that comes to mind is to...try and put everything back inside. He steels his nerves and hovers a shivering hand over one of the tubes that lay outside of 2B's abdomen. 

"P-pod...are any tubes damaged." He says with a wavering voice.

"Negative." Says Pod 042, who had been oddly silent t until now. "No critical damage detected in internal coolant and material transport systems."

"Heh...some good news finally.."

He swallows back the bile rising in his throat, and takes hold of one of the five misplaced tubes. God, the way it molds and shapes to his hand is _revolting_. They're slick with gel and blood, and cold to the touch. It has the consistency of a jelly but with more shape and solidity. 

9S realizes that he's going to have to clean the sand off before he can do anything else with it. 

"Pod, I need one of the water bottles."  

Pod 153 brings him one of his bottles in it's claws, hovering just beside him. 9S pours enough to clean the grit off of the tube in his hand. He's got a lot more work ahead of him after all, he'll need to conserve what little he has. 

_Okay...now for the hard part..._

He stares at the gaping hole in 2B's abdomen, preparing himself. His breathing is ragged and shallow, his whole body trembles in horror. Luckily, he doesn't have to move anything around. The wound is large enough, and the blast seems to have destroyed most of her clothing. He suppresses the urge to vomit, and slides the tube back inside of its host. His hands are briefly submerged in what little of the thick cooling gel remained within her. It's so _cold_ , he actually starts to shiver. More than he was before. He feels 2B shudder as well, though for a different reason. It can't be at all comfortable to feel someone rummaging around in her guts. 

9S repeats the gruesome process several more times with each exposed tube. His arms, up to his elbows have lost feeling in them from being covered in the cooling gel for too long. He supposes this is a mercy, one less thing on his body that hurts. 

"How is she?" He asks the Pods.

"Report." Begins Pod 042, "Unit 2B's Black Box temperature has stabilized at thirty percent above acceptable levels. Analysis: Loss of blood is preventing the cooling of overheating systems."

"Logic viruses?"

"Negative. No signs of enemy logic virus detected within unit 2B."

9S nods, "Good." 

His vision begins to blur, the world around him spins.

_No...no you can't give up yet. There's still more to do._

He shakes the dizziness away as much as he can. If he can just focus on what he has to do, then just maybe he can save her. 

The next step that comes to his mind is closing the wound, or at the very least covering it. He couldn't just dump a bunch of staunching gel in there, not with all the damaged syn-myocin and shattered endo-frame. Damnit he was a scanner, not a Healer. He could list off all the problems he could find, but couldn't do a damned thing to actually fix it. 

"Analysis." Says Pod 153. "All Yorha combat models are required to have an emergency field repair kit on their person, for use by Type-H models in case of limited resources. Proposal: Unit 9S should use Unit 2B's emergency field repair kit to stabilize before transporting to the Resistance Camp."

9S hums an agreement to Pod 153. He didn't have the supplies or the knowledge to get 2B back on her feet right here and now. The best he could manage was making sure she survives long enough to get her to someone who can. 

"Okay...what do I need to do?"

Pod 042 walks him through the process of attaching what is essentially a substitute plate to 2B's abdominal wound. It's....not going to be pleasant for 2B. He has to fuse the foreign metal to the damaged endo-frame. Well...fuse is too advanced a term for it. 9S has to bolt it to her. 

The pod produces a sterile white sheet of metal large enough to cover the hole in her endo-frame, and a bolt gun. 9S gives 2B an apologetic look, or as apologetic as he can without certain parts of his face. Her one eye is still open, staring at him. It's unnerving to him having realized she had been watching him pretty much stuff her back together. He figures she's forcing herself to stay awake so she doesn't...

He shakes that dangerous train of thought away, and takes the plate and bolt gun from Pod 042. As he loads the gun, he shudders at how large the bolts themselves are. They have to be, they need to pierce through several layers of durable metal. The thought of even one of these, let alone four, being shot into him almost makes him back down. But if he didn't, then 2B wouldn't make it back to the resistance camp alive.

"Okay 2B...this is...Sorry, this isn't going to-..."

"Just...get it over with." She hisses.

The tremors return as 9S sets the new plate in its place. He has to remove extraneous bits of flesh and cloth to get it to set properly. He's glad that 2B is holding back the cries he knows she is, because if he had to hear that along with everything else, this would have ended a while ago. 

Both androids take a deep breath as 9S prepares the bolt gun. Just four bolts, one for each corner of the plate. That's all they had to work through. Only four...

He presses the barrel of the gun to the corner of the plate closest to him.  

"Alright...on three." He says, both for 2B and himself. She gives him a weak nod. "One...two...."

9S pulls the trigger. The recoil sends an odd static like feeling up his numbed arms, it almost tickles. It's a different story for 2B. Her face twists in an agonized grimace, and there's not a sound coming from her though it looks as if she's screaming. Her hands claw at nothing, and he whole body writhes beneath him. 

Part of him wants to stop, but he knows that the longer he prolongs this the more pain she'll be in. In quick succession, 9S bolts the remaining three corners down. On the last one, 2B's restraint breaks and she _screams_. He's never, not even in the heat of combat, heard her make a sound like that before. It shatters the peaceful atmosphere of the desert, causing several nearby animals to scatter. 

It breaks his heart to know that he did this to her.

He mutters apologies into his hands like prayers, even though she can't hear him over her screams. God, he can't even look at her, it's too much for him to bear. His apologies grow in volume until he's screaming along with her. Tremors and sobs rip through his body while 2B writhes in the dust and blood.

He feels so _fucking useless_.

It's a minute, though it feels like ages, before 2B's screams subside into frantic gasps for air. It almost sounds like she's laughing. 

Pod 042 begins applying staunching gel to the torn flesh while 9S attempts to compose himself. Between the substitute plate and the large amounts of sickly yellow gel, 2B won't be able to move for a long time. 9S isn't in a position to carry her either, so he'll have to rely on their Pods to carry her back at least. 

His bloodied hands fell from his face and lay limp by his sides. How quickly this little retrieval mission had gone from an annoying chore to something that would haunt 9S for the rest of his life. He felt something wrap around one of his shaking hands, and it shocks him to see 2B's hand lying in his. She just...looks at him. His ruined face, trembling body, bloody hands...she stares at him with her hand in his.

He has no idea what to make of it. 

"Analysis: Unit 2B has been stabilized for movement to the Resistance Camp." Pod 153 says, breaking him out of his daze. "Proposal: Unit 9S and Unit 2B should move to the Resistance Camp immediately for repairs."

While Pod 042 began hovering 2B off the ground for transport, 9S leaned on his own Pod for support. He could walk, thankfully, but not very well. Every so often his weakened legs give out from under him and he'll fall to his knees. Even still, he doesn't let go of 2B's hand. 

The whole way back to the resistance camp, he refuses to let go of her hand.


	2. Chapter 2

9S hates the bandages. They itch, they make his healing face sweat, and they get in the way of everything. He hates when the android in charge of repairs, Caddy he thinks her name is, takes them off. There's a few hours of her layering on new synthetic muscle and testing nerves for him to look forward to.

"If you stopped squirming so much this wouldn't be as bad." She scolds.

He tries to protest but she shuts him up by simply telling him to shut up. It's understandable, she is working with delicate muscles after all. It didn't mean she had to be rude about it though. If he had the parts necessary to pout, would.

It's been about a week since the...incident in the desert. All things considered, the pair were healing fairly well. 9S' face is almost fully repaired, with only the muscles and skin on his cheek still in progress. Caddy says so long as he doesn't do anything to "fuck it up", as she elegantly puts it, that he should be ready for action in a few days.

2B is...a different story. Not counting extensive damage she sustained, she and the recovery process did not agree with each other. She is not the kind of person who could sit around and rest. Her insistence on doing things other than lying down and healing was pushing how long it was going to take her to heal properly.

Caddy, 9S, and several others had tried to explain this to her, but 2B wasn't having any of it. She's stubborn to a fault, but 9S already knew that. He has this feeling that there's something bothering her, besides going a bit stir crazy.

"If anyone has a chance at talking some sense into her, 'S probably you." Caddy says as she wraps new bandages around his face.

"I guess." He responds, "She's been distant lately, more so than normal. Dunno if there's anything I can do, besides what I've already tried."

Caddy shrugs, "Well she doesn't immediately tell ya to piss off when you talk to her, so that's more progress then any of us have made."

"She doesn't tell you to...piss off, as you put it."

"She might as well, what with the attitude she drops. I swear if I have to stitch her back together one more time..." the mechanic sighs, and finishes up with the bandages. "Regardless, she's just gonna end up making things worse for herself if she keeps this up."

Caddy gives her work a quick once over to make sure everything is in it's place. With a quick nod, she gives him a clap on the back and sends him off. "You should be good so long as you don't take a punch for a while. Next time I'll see if I can get more nerves and blood flow running."

9S thanks her while he pulls his borrowed shirt over his head. Some resistance members were kind enough to loan both he and 2B clothes while they were out of commission. However, it seems that the resistance androids were made a bit larger than the newer Yorha models, so even the smaller shirts almost swallow him whole.

"I'm going to go and see if I can talk to 2B again." He says as he leaves the medical area.

"Someone saw her sittin' out by the pond earlier. Might still be there."

As he makes his way out of the camp proper, 9S tries to formulate what he's going to say to 2B. Stay casual, non aggressive, don't make her feel like he's accusing her of one thing or another. Maybe just...try and talk to her about stuff other than her injuries and stubbornness. It's difficult to plan around what 2B's going to say because in truth he has no idea what she might do.

She's always been a mystery to him. Besides her coldness, she's incredibly impulsive. Willing to act on a whim or on the first thought that crosses her mind. It almost breaks into the territory of self destructive. But there's more to her than that. There's a certain sadness that he's picked up on when she's around him. Particularly after a round of banter or something fun that's sidetracked them. She'll close herself off, but she's terrible at hiding her emotions. He chalks it up to his programmed ability to see the smallest of details. The way her lips quirk upwards a tad when he talks to himself about old world data. Or the way she'll get eerily silent when his curiosity gets the better of him.

9S finds 2B sitting on the edge of the pond outside the camp. Pod 042 floats a few yards away from her, waiting for some unsuspecting fish to swim into its claws. 9S breathes a quick sigh of relief that he's found her only fishing as opposed to something more physically demanding. He sees 2B's visorless eyes staring off into space, unsure if she's thinking or relaxing.

He sits on the ground next to her. "Hey."

No response other than a nod, but that's normal.

"Catch anything?"

She gestures to a pile of killifish and carp machines, "Nothing but small fry."

"Well this pond is only a few feet deep."

He gets nothing in reply besides a soft hum. 9S can't help but let out a quiet sigh. It's going to be another one sided conversation.

"So..." he begins after a few minutes of silence, "How are you feeling?"

"Fine."

The sharpness in her voice makes him flinch. "Okay...no problems with anything?"

"No."

He huffs to himself and pulls his knees up to his chest. It's frustrating when she gets like this. Whenever he expresses even a modicum of concern for her, she shuts down. _I'm trying to help you damnit...just let me in._

"...You have any idea when you'll be ready to go back out in the field? I only have a day or so before I'm all fixed up."

She shifts around in her borrowed jacket, "Now, if I had it my way."

9S throws her a sideways look, "You can't be serious. You can barely walk without bleeding, let alone fight."

He can practically hear her grinding her teeth. She knows he's right and she hates it. At least that's the impression he gets from her silence.

"Listen," he begins as he casts Pod 153 into the pond near 042, "I know you don't like just sitting around when there's work to do, but you can't keep pushing yourself to this extreme."

He takes a deep breath as he feels his words and emotions slip out of his control. In a split second, he makes the decision to come clean. To be genuine with himself and her, for better or worse. Maybe it'd get his point across to her.

"I'm worried about you, 2B."

She tenses up, her brows knitting close together and hands clenching into fists. There's a moment where 9S thinks she's about to start crying. They sit for a long time, with his words hanging tangibly between them.

2B's head lowers. She doesn't even notice her Pod bringing in a new catch and deposit it in the pile.

"You shouldn't." Is all she says.

9S raises the one eyebrow that isn't covered in bandages. "What do you mean?"

"You shouldn't worry about me."

"Well, yeah I know that you're made for this kind of thing but...even you have your limits, 2B."

His mind flashes the scene from the desert a week ago. Her blood covering his arms, guts on the sand...her screams.

"You nearly died." He whispers, curling into himself further.

9S is aware that it's irrational to feel this way. Death has no real meaning to them so long as they back up their memories frequently. Even if he had failed to save 2B, she would have come back minus a few memories. Still, it's something he wants to prevent from happening again. The thought alone is abhorrent to him.

"That's not what I mean."

2B's statement adds to 9S' confusion, "Huh?"

She doesn't respond to him, she stares off into nothing again. Her body is still tense, enough to hurt as she grips at the bandages on her stomach.

_Nines...I'm not...I'm not worth it..._

2B's weak voice haunts his memory while they wait for each other to say something.

9S fumbles with the hem of his shirt, "Do you...do you remember what happened in the desert? What you said to me?"

2B shakes her head, "Only before the ambush. Other than that, just pain."

He sighs, "At one point you said-....you said to me that you weren't worth it. That you weren't worth saving."

Something in her expression changes, a subtle crack in her stoic facade. 9S can see her chew at the inside of her cheek.

"2B...Do you actually think that?"

She turns her head away from him so he can no longer see her face. Her body slumps forward though she still maintains her hold on her abdomen.

"2B...."

Without a word, she beckons her Pod back to her and storms off towards the city ruins.

"H-Hey! Wait a second!" 9S scrambles to his feet, tripping over himself as he sprints after 2B.

He berates himself for not expecting this. 2B is the sort of person who all but shuts down when the conversation turns to them. Normally he would let her be alone to cool off, but in her current state she could be overwhelmed if she were ambushed.

...He has to put a stop to this.

9S catches up to her, as she's barely maintaining a limp. He stands in front of her, arms out.

"Get out of my way, 9S." She growls.

"Or what. You're in no condition to make me." He calls her bluff, or what he hopes is a bluff.

2B glares at him, and takes a step forward. He can see blood seep through her fingers. "Move. Now."

"No! This has gone too far! I'm not going to sit back and watch you do this to yourself!"

Her lips curl back in a grimace, from pain or anger he can't be to sure. There's a flash of something violent in 2B's eyes that makes 9S take an unconscious step back. It's gone in an instant, a deep sadness replacing it, but the fear in 9S lingers a bit longer. He keeps himself composed, even puffing out his chest a bit.

"Why do you keep doing this?! Look at yourself! You haven't even made it fifty feet and you're already bleeding!" 9S feels control slip further from his grasp. His face flushes red, and tears begin to pool in the corners of his eyes. "Do you have any idea how hard this is to watch?! Why are you so insistent on hurting yourself right in front of me?!"

"Because I deserve it!!" 2B yells, her voice breaking.

Before 9S can gather his scrambled thoughts, she begins shouting.

"I deserve everything that happens to me! For every god forsaken thing I've done, I deserve a thousand times worse! I deserved to die out there in the desert! I deserve this!" She gestures to the blood soaked bandages on her stomach, "I deserve so much worse than this! What I don't deserve is any kind of sympathy from anyone, especially _you_!"

As she finishes her rant, 9S puts all the pieces of his puzzle together. It seems so obvious to him now that he has the answer. Her avoidance, her irritability, the way she'll always push herself to her limits, how she'll take lethal hits meant for him without hesitation. It all leads back to one thing about 2B that he had been blind to the entire time he's known her.

_She hates herself._

9S lowers his arms, "2B...I-"

"Just shut up!" She yells but with less force than before, "Just...Just leave me be."

2B turns away from him, her head low and nails digging into her palm. For a while, 9S lets her stand there. He doesn't have any idea if he should approach at all or let her be. But...the sight of her dealing with this intense self loathing by herself breaks his heart. Just like before, he couldn't sit there and do nothing.

But what was he supposed to do?

9S is a creature of reason. He is most comfortable when he holds all the cards, knows the game and it's tricks, and has a solid plan or two. With 2B, plans go flying out the window. At times he sees 2B as an infallible stoic rock, unmoving in even the most dire of situations. Always sure of her actions, with the flexibility to adapt as needed. Other times, she's a wild, unpredictable animal; volatile and barbaric.

He decides that the best plan of action here is to not have one. Take a page out of her book and...go with his gut.

9S takes a stride forward, and wraps his arms around her, just above the bandages. He rests his forehead against her shoulders and stands there waiting for a reaction from her. She tenses up at first, then relaxes into his embrace.

"2B..." he says in the softest voice he can manage, "I won't make you tell me about it, but whatever it was that you've done, it doesn't matter to me. I-..." He takes a deep breath to steady himself, "I can't...make you love yourself. But there's so many people that care about you, who don't want to see you hurt yourself like this. Anemone, Pascal, 6O,...me."

"I...I care about you 2B. Even if you don't think you deserve it."

For a long time, she stands there. 9S thinks he feels a subtle shudder in her breaths, or maybe he's imagining it. He wants her to say or do something, not just leave him questioning his actions like this. It's almost unbearable to him.

Slowly, 2B places one of her hands on his.

_Huh...her hands are so...warm._

"9S..." she says in a voice barely above a whisper, "...You're too kind for your own good. ....Thank you."

He smiles against her shoulder and lets out a breathy laugh, "Sure. Just...please take it slow for a while, okay?"

2B only hums in agreement. It's short and non committal, but it's more than 9S expects. They stand in their embrace for what seems like ages. It's there, amongst the filtered sunlight and quiet sounds of nature, that 9S vows to himself that not even the full might of the machine network will tear him away from 2B.

She needs him, just as much as he needs her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fuckiiiiin' I wrote most of this and edited this while in lines at Otakon so I apologize

**Author's Note:**

> An actual conversation that happened while writing this  
> Friend: So you used to write smutty stuff a bunch right? You gonna go back to that at all?  
> Me: I mean....with this thing most of her clothes are off and he's inside her at some point.  
> Friend:....  
> Friend: Tank why are you like this.
> 
> Toying with the idea of a follow up for this one idk


End file.
